FT: AI hyperscalers are transforming debt markets — Meta to debut in European bonds
The AI capex supercycle is reshaping global debt markets, according to an FT Big Read (28 September 2026). Hyperscalers are borrowing across currencies at record scale, forcing other corporates and even sovereign issuers to time and structure their deals around them.
- Meta will tap the European bond market for the first time this autumn to fund its AI expansion, according to investors familiar with its plans. Meta has also issued bonds via special-purpose vehicles tied to individual data centre projects, which makes single-issuer exposure harder for investors to track.
- Goldman Sachs estimates investors have provided about $500bn of financing to AI-linked groups so far this year. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle account for about $200bn and are expected to issue more than $1tn of new debt over the next few years.
- In Q2 earnings, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta raised combined 2026 capex guidance to $745bn.
- SoftBank raised more than $11bn last week in the largest junk bond issue in history, to finance its investment in OpenAI .
- Records outside the US: Amazon sold US$10.3B in June, beating the previous Canadian-dollar record of US$6.23B set weeks earlier by Alphabet . Alphabet issued a record US$3.56B bond in Australia last month and holds the Swiss franc record (SFr3.1bn in February); Amazon's SFr2.8bn in May is second. Alphabet sold £5.5bn of sterling bonds in February as part of a $31.5bn package that included a rare 100-year £1bn bond. Amazon raised £4.25bn this month in its first sterling issue.
- Riskier AI names such as CoreWeave are tapping the high-yield market. Investors warn that a failure there, whether of a credit or a specific data centre, would spill into investment grade because the ecosystem is so intertwined.
- PGIM's Greg Peters, on SpaceX 's space data-centre ambitions: "It doesn't matter to him [Elon Musk] if a bunch of bond investors charge an extra hundred basis points."
- Supply is heavy enough that hyperscaler bonds have repriced, in some cases close to junk levels, and highly rated bonds sometimes trade at discounts to lower-rated paper. In Canada the AA corporate index, where Amazon and Alphabet sit, has traded at a discount to the A-rated index since their record deals.
- Other issuers are shortening maturities and avoiding issuance windows that clash with hyperscaler deals. Some hyperscalers have promised investors they will not issue in two consecutive quarters. Some sovereign debt managers are reportedly adjusting auction timing.
- Fed chair Kevin Warsh and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent argue hyperscalers compete for capital with the $31tn Treasury market. ECB staff have flagged a crowding-out risk for euro-area borrowers.
- Apollo's Torsten Sløk: the hyperscaler credit story rests on operating cash flow tripling from $600bn to $2tn. If that fails, the risks are wider spreads, capex cuts and slower US GDP growth.
Source: Financial Times, "AI hyperscalers are transforming debt", Euan Healy, Emily Herbert and Michelle Chan, 28 September 2026.
